Great Northwest Basketball League (GNBL)

Potential Weather Concerns for Saturday, January 18 Meets

Snow is predicted Friday into Saturday, a couple of coaches have expressed concern about the weather and how it will affect Great Northwest Basketball meets held on Saturday, January 18.  Before calling/emailing Terri Green or Tracie Tilton with questions, please read carefully Paragraph C-11 of the League’s rules which is copied below (this Paragraph also explains in detail how fees and credits will be assessed if a team or host cancels a meet).  Please note this section of the League Rules from Paragraph C-11:  “Meets should not be canceled, nor should traveling teams indicate an unwillingness to travel, prior to 8:00 p.m. the night before the meet.  Attendance should be based on actual weather conditions, not on a forecast.  If poor road conditions exist in and around the host community the night before the meet, the meet host must contact all meet participants by telephone to discuss whether the meet should be canceled.  Where appropriate, contact must also be made early the next morning for the same purpose.”

The League will not cancel any meets.  It is highly unlikely that hosts will cancel meets because of the amount of preparation that goes into hosting a meet.  Hosts who cancel meets will call every team late Friday or early Saturday morning.  All hosts should have provided coaches attending their meets with a phone number where they can be reached.  Be sure to contact the host with a cell number or number where you can be reached on Friday night/Saturday morning.  Each visiting team’s coach needs to use their own judgment in deciding whether or not it is safe to travel to a particular meet.  If a visiting team feels they must cancel, please call the host community or Terri Green - - do not simply cancel via email – emails are often not checked if the host is setting up the event on Friday/Saturday.

Paragraph C-11

Weather-Related Cancellations and Re-formatting of Meets for Other Reasons.  Since most meets will be held during a time of the year when inclement weather is a distinct possibility, host teams must have one or more of its coaches or other individuals available the night before the meet and early the morning of the meet for phone contact by other coaches.  Meets should not be canceled, nor should traveling teams indicate an unwillingness to travel, prior to 8:00 p.m. the night before the meet.  Attendance should be based on actual weather conditions, not on a forecast.  If poor road conditions exist in and around the host community the night before the meet, the meet host should contact all meet participants by telephone to discuss whether either the meet host is going to cancel the meet or if the meet host doesn't cancel, whether visiting teams intend to make the trip.  Where appropriate, contact must also be made early the next morning for the same purposes. 

Every season, someone ends up unhappy relative to financial considerations when a meet is cancelled.  Visiting teams want fees waived, but hosts want to keep their hosting credits -- we can't do both – it's one or the other.  As a result, in the case of inclement weather, where a meet ends up being cancelled or re-formatted because some teams don't come, the financial issues will be resolved as follows (no discretion, no negotiation and no debate):

• If the host cancels the meet, even though four or more visiting teams were willing to attend, the host gets no hosting credit and all teams scheduled to play in that meet owe no meet fees for that meet.
• If the host is forced to cancel the meet because fewer than four teams plan to attend (the home team, plus three visiting teams), the teams who were unwilling to attend must pay their full $110 (three games) or $130 meet (four games) fee; the teams that were willing to attend are not required to pay their $110 or $130 meet fees; and the host team gets a pro-rated credit (e.g., if five of the other seven teams are assessed a full $110 fee for not coming, the host will get a $55 hosting credit for those five teams, but not for the other two who are not required to pay their meet fees for that event).

 A meet will be held so long as at least four teams are willing to participate.  If fewer than four teams are able to attend a given meet because of inclement weather, the meet will be canceled and not re-scheduled.  In the case of a mini-meet, if only three teams are available to play (rather than 4 or 5), those teams will play each other round-robin for two games each.  If 7, 6, or 5 teams are in attendance, please see Attachment #5 for directions on how to re-format the pairings or call Terri Green for help.

 (Only coaches should call meet hosts, not parents)

 DO NOT CANCEL BY E-MAIL!

HOSTS, IT IS VITAL THAT YOU HAVE A COPY OF “ATTACHMENT #5 – Reformatting League Meets when Fewer Attend” WITH YOU AT YOUR MEET.  This can be found on the RULES tab on this website.

If you are hosting a meet and need help with reformatting,

Friday night and Saturday morning, please call Terri at 715-386-4317.

If you have questions, please contact:

            Terri Green 715-386-4317 (terri@gnbl.org)

            Or

            Tracie Tilton 715-749-9048 (tracie@gnbl.org)